North Korea's army of hackers: Kim Jong Un's 'secret weapon' behind the $6.3

The FBI and Binance have blamed Pyongyang for the $6.3-billion cyber heist, while North Korea has denied involvement in the attack.

North Korea has reportedly built an army of highly trained hackers by identifying talented children at a young age, training them in advanced technology and rewarding successful operations with money, luxury apartments and other privileges. The programme, developed over more than a decade, has helped the country emerge as a major force in cybercrime , with its hackers accused of carrying out some of the world's biggest cryptocurrency thefts, according to details cited in a Reuters report.

The group has come under scrutiny following the $6.3 billion Binance hack last month. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and cryptocurrency exchange Binance have blamed North Korea for the attack. Blockchain investigation firms have attributed it to a North Korean hacking group known as “TraderTraitor”.

However, Pyongyang has denied responsibility, describing such accusations as fabricated political provocations.

Also read: 'Absurd rhetoric': North Korea fires back at US over $6.3 billion Binance crypto heist claims

How North Korea builds its army of hackers

North Korea's cyber programme reportedly begins with identifying potential recruits when they are still in school. According to defectors and analysts, the government selects around 150 to 200 talented students every year, sometimes as young as 11 or 12, to study computer science .

The most promising students are sent to the country's leading universities at the age of 17. They undergo further screening before a select few are recruited into the military's cyber unit.

Kim Heung-kwang, a North Korean defector who trained state hackers before fleeing to South Korea in 2004, said the country had developed a systematic process to identify and train young talent.

“They are actually one of Kim Jong Un's secret weapons,” Reuters quoted as saying said Kim Heung-kwang.

"There is no other country grooming hackers like this, systematically searching for the smartest children, solely to turn them into operatives," Kwang added. "Whether they want to be a hacker or not does not matter."

Their training reportedly includes advanced mathematics, foreign languages, cryptocurrency systems and methods to reverse-engineer foreign hardware. Those who do not make it into the hacking units are trained to develop software and applications for Western companies through remote jobs.

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